A Boy and his Bunny
by insertmangos
Summary: Shintaro remembered the two things he got that day. An albino bunny, and love for a certain scarf-wearing hero.


A Boy and his Bunny

Shintaro remembers the two important things he got that day. His rabbit, and his love for a certain scarf-wearing hero.

ShinAya

Shintaro squinted against the sun, looking outside at the clouds rather than the blackboard in front of the classroom. He could actually look outside today. His classroom neighbor, friend, and headache Ayano was gone that day and he didn't feel like texting her, asking where she was for two reasons: It took effort to conceal a phone from the teacher and it would imply he cared. Which he definitely did not. Caring was Ayano's thing, not his.

So when the lunch bell rang and Shintaro put his head on the desk, attempting to take a nap, he did not expect his body to drag himself to the same place that he is dragged every lunch period: the extra science classroom with Headache Number 2 and Haruka, who wasn't *that* bad. That eternal happiness that Haruka wore only *sometimes* annoyed Shintaro.

Haruka was laughing, Takane was yelling at him, and everything was normal except for the gray bunny that was in between the two, napping like Shintaro wanted to be. Mr. Tateyama was luckily not in the room, probably making a call of some sort. Takane stopped bickering with Haruka in time to make a quip at Shintaro.

"I would say 'look at what the cat dragged in' but a real pet is the issue. Shintaro, this idiot brought a bunny to school and intends to keep it!"

Haruka moved to defend himself, scratching his cheek. "Well, actually Ayano brought her in, not me."

Shintaro rose an eyebrow. "Ayano? She isn't here today. I can skip the usual session of 'tutoring what we just learned yesterday!' Its strange." Shintaro complained. "She's horrible when it comes to tests, and that's at best, but at least her attendance is a 100 percent." He decided to sit on a shelf in the room since his usual partner isn't here to force him next to the others.

Takane and Haruka looked at each other before responding. "You mean she hasn't tried to force a bunny on you?" Takane asked carefully.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Forcing somebody to take care of a rabbit? Who would do that?

"That's where she's been all morning!" Haruka beamed. "I just had to take one! She's so cute! I don't know what I'm going to name her though. I was thinking something cool, like Tsunami."

Shintaro looked at the little gray bunny. He imagined a samurai ponytail on it, and a katana sword around its waist.

"Haruka... I don't think that fits." Shintaro told him. Takane nodded her head in agreement.

"If your actually going to take her home," she told him, "then name her something good. Something that fits. You called her cute, so name her something cute."

While Haruka was thinking, and it looked like he was thinking hard, the door flew open. In came Ayano, with her signature red scarf around her neck and one bunny in her arms. It was a bright white, and it had bright red eyes, much like the scarf around Ayano's neck. She looked around the room for a second before she found Shintaro. As she saw him, she walked over to him, eyes bright with excitement. Shintaro felt a little ache begin in his head.

"Shintaro, look! Isn't she adorable?" Ayano beamed.

"No." He said immediately, looking away from Ayano and the bunny in her hands. "I want nothing to do with this."

From the corner of his eye, he saw her pout, and put something on his head. When he looked back at her, she was smiling again, hands behind her back.

"What did you-" Shintaro's question was interrupted by the feeling of something sharp digging into his head.

He screamed a very high-pitched shriek and shook his head, but the fuzzy creature did not let go of the raven-haired boy's scalp. He tried prying it off, but it's claws wouldn't come out unless Shintaro wanted to bleed from his head.

"Ayano, get it off!" He yelled at the now-laughing girl. Takane was pointing at him, laughing as well. He couldn't tell who was laughing harder, her or Ayano. His headache was pounding now.

After a few moments of pure embarrassment, Ayano plucked the little creature off of her friend's head. "She isn't an 'it' because she's a 'she' Shintaro! And now she's yours! What are you going to name her?" Ayano asked, snuggling the red-eyed creature in her hands.

"I'm not going to name it, because I'm not taking it home! You keep it!" Shintaro yelled, cheeks red from embarrassment.

"Shintaro, she doesn't have a home! There were all these cute bunnies in a box on the side of the road, and I couldn't just leave them there. But I cant take her home because Dad said we can't have one. I found people to take most of them and Haruka took one and all that's left is this one. So I *need* you to take her!"

With every sentence, Ayano moved closer and closer with her voice becoming angrier and angrier. However, Shintaro looked at her and saw tears starting to form in her eyes. *does she really care that much?* he wondered. He had to look away, he couldn't bear to see Ayano in tears. "Fine, just... just don't cry, okay?"

Ayano's face lit up, and she put down the albino so she wouldn't be squished. She threw her arms around the unsuspecting boy, hugging him tightly.

"Oh thank you thank you *thank you*!" As she thanked him, she squeezed him tight.

"Ayano...air...please..." was all the tired boy could squeezed out to alert Ayano of his dire situation.

She suddenly bounced back off of him. "Sorry, sorry!" She said, a finger scratching her red cheek in embarrassment, a habit that she picked up from Haruka whenever.

Shintaro felt his face red as well, and it wasn't from asphyxiation. He could barely mumble out a "no problem" as he looked at the girl who had forced him to take a stray bunny. "I'll name her Tono." He said, a ghost of a smile on his face.

"I'll name her Takane!" Haruka blurted out suddenly. "Because Takane is cute too!"

This, of course, got Takane's face red as well. "I...wha... It took you *that* long to come up with that?" She yelled, her arm propped for a beating.

Ayano rushed over to the only two desks in the room. "Stop fighting you two!" She called out. She put herslef in between Takane and her target, and looked over at Shintaro. "Uhh... Shintaro... help..." she muttered.

Shintaro decided to do the opposite. "I'm getting lunch. Takane, watch Tono. I think Haruka would eat her if he got hungry." As he walked out the door, Ayano joined him at his side.

"I didn't bring any lunch today." she explained, laughing a bit at the scene they just left.

Shintaro looked at Ayano, and for the first time, he noticed how nice she smelt. The sun shone into the hallway as the two walked, the white light highlighting the brunette girl.

"I'll pay for you." He said as Ayano looked for her wallet. She looked at him, surprised. Shintaro looked away and quickly explained. "As long as you don't bring me more bunnies."

Ayano laughed. "Thank you, Shintaro."

Shintaro looked at Tono, who was sleeping soundly in her cage. He was about to go to bed for the night. He would usually stay up until four in the morning, but Ene had angrily shut down his computer while he was on the internet.

Shintaro cursed. With nothig left to distract him, he was forced to think about... Her. "Tono, you knew her too. Why did she do it?" He got out of his chair, his body weak from staying inside for two years. The cool air was filtered into the room, freezing sweat and tears on his face.

Tono did not respond, but Shintaro believed that Tono did not know either.

Falling onto his black bed sheet, Shintaro had to face a sort of reality that he has been avoiding ever since that day.

"Tono, I think I loved her."


End file.
